Red Dead Redemption 2 player uncovers incredible alternate ending to mission after five years

Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the crown jewels in the ever-impressive library of Rockstar Games and that’s saying something considering it has the likes of the Grand Theft Auto series to contend with. That's not to mention the 2010 Red Dead Redemption.

When Red Dead Redemption 2 was released in 2018, it instantly became an all-time great garnering scores as high as 96 on aggregate websites such as Metacritic and earning the “Must-Play" accolade, which is why fans are desperate for the release of Red Dead Redemption 3.

Check out the Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer below!

To this day, players are still having fun with Red Dead Redemption 2 with its main story missions and side activities, such as tracking legendary animals or hunting down the worst criminals in the Wild West (present company not included). That being said, as fun as Red Dead Redemption 2 is, questions have to be asked with it winning the ‘Labour of Love’ award at the 2023 Steam Awards, five years after the game had originally been released.

In 2018, Red Dead Redemption 2 would have been worthy of any award and if Rockstar Games hadn't all but abandoned the major content support for Red Dead Online, the ‘Labor of Love’ award in 2023 may have been justified.

As picked up by Comicbook.com, five years after its release, a player has discovered a secret that many gamers may have missed. The discovery in question is related to a bounty for NPC Mark Johnson and taking a look at gameplay uploaded to the YouTube channel Player7, I remember this mission very vividly, though I never knew about this particular story path. However, to activate this secret, you’re going to have to make a brutal choice.

Upon accepting the bounty, you will eventually find Mark Johnson with his wife and son living life in the wilderness. When you discover them, Johnson’s wife will worryingly alert her family that you’re approaching. Mark Johnson is a murderer on the run, but instead of putting up a fight when you take him in, he tells you that he’s a changed man and he’ll come peacefully after saying his goodbyes to his family.

Yet, if you murder his wife in cold blood (and leave his son to flee), and then hogtie Mark Johnson to take to the sheriff, he’ll be understandably distraught. After dropping him off at the sheriff to be locked up and returning a day later, Arthur will apologise to Mark Johnson. Not that his apology means much after you just murdered his wife.

When you return to the location of the sheriff a week later, you will see that Mark Johnson is about to be hung for his past crimes. Before he faces death, you can shoot all those in attendance at the execution and this makes you a wanted man yourself. Flee the scene, wait for your wanted level to drop and then return to where Mark Johnson is still tied to a noose. You can now shoot the rope freeing the wanted man and he will go and live his life with his son. Albeit now a widow and his son without his mother. So, yay?

Red Dead Redemption 2 is out now on PC, PlayStation and Xbox.